796 POEPHTEIO POLIOCEPHALUS. 



The plumage of the head and face is variable, both as regards the amount of grey and the tint of the colouring of the 

 occiput, which is duskier in some examples than in others. 



Young. The chick is said to be blackish, with the bill blue and red (the basal portion red), and bluish flesh-coloured 

 legs and claws. 



Birds of the year have the iris pale red, with the inner edge mottled with brown ; bill red ; legs and feet reddish, with 

 the joints brownish. 



Length about 15'0 inches ; wing 9-0 ; tarsus 3 - 5. 



The face, throat, and neck is more tinged with green than in the adult; the back of the head and neck brownish, with 

 the feathers here and there tipped with greyish ; the back and wings sombre greenish blue, passing into brown 

 on the rump and upper tail-coverts, the feathers with pale tips ; the greenish-blue chest-feathers are likewise 

 pale-tipped, and the blue of the under surface not so pure as in the adult, with the edges of the feathers greyish ; 

 thighs cinereous bluish, with light edges to the feathers. 



Obs. Indian examples correspond with Ceylonese in plumage. Some before me, from Madras, in the national collec- 

 tion measure as follows : — wing 9 - 2 to 9*5 inches ; tarsus 3'0; middle toe 3'0 to 3'2 ; culmen (with casque) 2 - 5. 



Mr. Cripps gives the measurements of a pair as follows : — $ . Length 10"6 inches ; wing 9-S3, expanse 31 - 0; tail 4 - ; 

 tarsus 3 - 3. $. Length 17 - 0; wing 1O0, expanse 30'0 ; tail 3 - 50 ; tarsus 3 - 6. 



The dimensions of a $ Pegu example are recorded by Mr. Oates as : — Length 17'0 inches ; wing 9*6 ; tail 4-0 ; 

 tarsus 3 - G ; culmen (with casque) 2 - 55. 



The genus Porjohyrio has a singular distribution, the habitat of the species (with one exception) composing it stretching 

 across, in a belt as it were, from Southern Europe through Western and Southern Asia, to China and the 

 Philippines, and thence down through the Malay Archipelago, taking in some of the Western Pacific isles to New- 

 Zealand and Australia. 



In his able paper on these curious birds, ' Stray Eeathers,' 1S78, written after an examination of the fine series in the 

 Paris Museum, Mr. Elliot recognizes nine species, besides which Capt. Shelley has described a tenth from Egypt 

 under the name of P. alleni, which seems to have been overlooked by that author. 



For the information of Ceylon students I will here enumerate these species, many of which I have had the pleasure of 

 inspecting in the British Museum, in the order taken by Mr. Elliot. They are : — 



P. cyanocephalus, Yieill. Hob. Tasmania, through Eastern Australia to New Guinea, including New Zealand, New 



Caledonia, and the Chatham Islands. 

 Char. Back, wings, and tail black, beneath indigo-blue: wing 105 to 11*2 inches. Tasmanian specimens are very 



large. 



P. veterum, Gmelin. llab. Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and part of Asia Minor. 



Char. Back, wings, and tail dark blue, lower parts blackish blue : " wing 1075 inches " (Elliot). 



P. bellus, Gould, llab. Western Australia. 



Char. Like P. cyanocephalus ; chest paler blue ; legs and feet grass-green : wing 105 inches. 



P. calvus, Yieill. Hah. Malay Peninsula, Malay Archipelago, and Pacific isles. 



Char. Face and chin black ; shoulders of wings greenish blue ; back olive-green ; breast deep blue : wing S'O to 



9-4 inches. An example from Samoa has much less of the bright blue along the shoulder of the wing than one 



from Fiji ; but both measure alike in the wing S-5 inches. 



P. ccelestis. Swinhoe. llab. China. 



Char. Like P. poliocephalus, but with a white rump. [N.B. Seems to be a doubtful species, described from a bird in 

 captivity, perhaps a partial albino. J 



P. chloronotus, Vieill. llab. Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius. 



Char. Back green ; wings blue ; chin blackish ; flanks and breast bluish purple. 



P. 2>olit>c(/ilailtis. The subject of the present article. 



P. edwardsi. llab. Cochin China, Siam. 



Char. Eesembles P. 2>i>l"»:cjihuluii, but is brighter blue on the chest, not so grey about the head ; back, breast, and 

 flanks violet-blue : wing ln-7f> inches. 



P. pulverulentus, Temm. llab. Philippines. 



Char. Head and breast greyish blue; back and tail reddish brown ; wings blue: wing 9'5 inches. 



P. alleni, Shelley, llab. Egypt. 



Char. Like P. veterum, but much smaller : wing 5 - S inches. 



